Stubborn Zemnian
by Biker Babe21
Summary: When Caleb gets hurts, it's up to Jester to heal him, but he's being too stubborn for his own good. Rated for language and for implied torture/bondage. Critical Role Campaign 2. Caleb and Jester. Widojest.


**AN****: This was for Widojest Week Day 2: Healing. This was my original idea for this prompt based off the idea that Germans are stubborn. It got away from me a little bit, but I still like it. Enjoy!**

**Stubborn Zemnian**

"Just hold still, Cayleb," the petite tiefling with the blue skin and darker blue hair ordered. Wriggling in her grasp was a much taller and skinnier human with a mess of filthy red-brown hair.

"I told you before zat I am fine, Jester," he tried telling her bur she wasn't listening to his protests. She sighed. A sharp cutting sound that was closer to a growl than a sigh.

"But you got hurt before."

"And as I told you before, it vas just a scratch." She tried again to get him to sit still, but despite her being stronger he was surprisingly slippery and each time he managed to get out of her grasp.

"Well fine then! Be that way, but if you like totally pass out or something later on, don't come crying to me!" she huffed in frustration. She pushed him away and crossed her arms. An angry pout replaced her usual smile. The red-head glanced at her as he readjusted his coat and scarf and had to resist the urge to chuckle.

"I'm not goink to pass out, Jester. My vounds aren't zat bad."

"You'd better not. 'Cause if you do after I head you I'm totally gonna slap you…ooo, oooo and maybe I'll have Beau punch you too for good measure," she scolded him with a hint of jokefulness. He smiled one of his little half-smiles Jester loved so much.

"I don't sink zat's really necessary, Jester."

"Well, it wouldn't have to be if you weren't so stubborn all the time." The angry pout she sends his way causes the normally stoic man to chuckle.

"It's not very funny, Cayleb. What if you got yourself like suuuuuuuuper hurt and you like died or something 'cause you didn't tell us or something?" His face suddenly turns very serious.

"I promise you zat if it vere really zat bad zat I vould tell you or Caduceus."

"Well can I at least see if it really is that bad?" she asks.

"Nein. I am tellink you zat it is nosink to vorry about so please leaf if alone." He starts to walk away and Jester notices the very subtle limp he is trying to hide. Before he gets too far away, she grabs a hold of his jacket. The force of the pull chokes him slightly, and he lets out a low gagging sound. She relaxes her hold a little when he stops.

"Oh no you don't! You're limping, Cayleb, and if you're limping it means you're hurting and if you're hurting then you need me to help you 'cause I'm the cleric."

"It is just a scratch, Jester. Nosink to vorry about," he insists, but she isn't listening anymore. While still holding his coat tail, she awkwardly moves around him to check for injuries. Caleb, for his part, wonders whether he could get away with slipping out of his jacket and sneaking away.

"Okay, that's it! You need to like sit down or something 'cause I can't hold you back and heal you at the same time," Jester huffs in frustration.

"I told you before, Jester, zat I am fine. It is just a scratch," he argues again.

"Hey, Beau!" Jester calls out to the blue-robed monk walking by.

"Nein, Jester. Zat is not necessary," he protests.

"Well, you're not holding still 'cause you're being so stubborn. So I have to have someone come and totally like hold you down and stuff." As she is saying this, Beauregard slowly begins approaching.

"Alright, if I agree to hafe you take a look at my vounds, vill you call off Beauregard?" he whispers.

"Are you going to stop being so stubborn?" she whispers back. As they keep whispering, Beau continues walking towards them. He glances at her before turning back to Jester.

"Ja. I'd razer not be held down," he mutters in such a low tone that she has to strain to hear him. A series of shudders run through him as dark thoughts roll around in his head of much darker times.

"Please, I….I don't…." he stutters. Jester's face grows soft as she sees the fear and hurt in his face and eyes. She releases his jacket just as the monk arrives.

"What's up, Jessie?" she asks. Jester hastily makes up her mind and a lie.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping later?" she asks.

"Sorry, but I already had plans with Nott, and Fjord, and Yasha to get shitfaced later. We found a few bars nearby that are suppose to be really shitty and we wanted to try."

"You vanted to try some bars zat you know are shitty? Vhy?" Caleb asks. The monk shrugs.

"Why the fuck not?" Caleb also shrugs at this, and Jester gives her one of her smiles.

"Why don't you take Caleb instead? Unless you'd rather get your drink on with us?" Beau asks. She mostly directs her last question at the wizard.

"Oh well, you know that I don't drink."

"I am not fery partial to drinkink eizer."

"Yeah, well, you're a fucking lightweight, Caleb. Bet you'd be shitfaced by drink two," Beau says with a chuckle.

"Yeah, you're all like skin and bones. You really should eat more, ya know." He shrugs. Beau salutes the two.

"If you guys don't need me for anything, I'm gonna go and find the others. We still have to actually find where this fucking bar is."

"Okay. Have fun!" Jester calls out with a wave. Caleb raises his hand in a short wave of his own. Beau turns and makes her way towards the tavern the Nein have been staying at.

"Let's go back to the inn, Cayleb, and I'll take a look at your wounds," Jester suggests as she tugs on his jacket. The Zemnian groans, but he doesn't argue and simply allows her to lead him back to the tavern. The tavern is bustling when the pair walk in. They find the rest of their party members talking with one another at a corner table in various degrees of getting ready to leave. Jester leads the way to them.

"You guys leaving?" she asks.

"Yeah, we're gonna go and find this bar we've been hearin' about. It's been a bit of a shitty week, ya know? So we decided to go and do a bit of a pub crawl to calm the nerves a bit," Fjord informs her.

"Yeah, I know. Beau was talking about that."

"You and Caleb can come too if you want," Nott invites.

"Danke, but Jester infited me to go shoppink vith her." Jester mentally thanks the human standing beside her for going along with her lie from earlier.

"Oh, okay."

"Is Caduceus goink vith you?"

"Yeah. We figured it'd be best if we had at least one sober person with us just in case, ya know?" Fjord answers. Caleb nods in approval.

"Have fun, you guys!" Their other party members say their various goodbyes leaving Jester and Caleb to themselves.

"Let me take a look at your wounds, now," Jester insists. She goes to pull him to one of the seats her friends just left. He manages to back away from her faster than she can grab hold of him. She huffs at him in anger.

"You told me you'd let me look at your injuries if I didn't have Beau hold you down. You promised…"

"I told you before, and I vill say it again zat I am fine."

"But you did promise…"

"I know vat I said, Jester. I remember eversink."

"Well then why are you still being stubborn and pulling away?"

"Because I know zat you von't find anysink of any note. And I don't vant you to vaste your spells vhen you don't hafe to."

"But it wouldn't be a waste of spells, Cayleb. Not when it would be helping you to feel better. Besides it's not like we're gonna get into any sort of fight or anything here. Not unless you wanted to like totally start a fight with someone here." She raises her eyebrows suggestively several times. Caleb chuckles and she joins him.

"I vould be fery bad in a fight, and I vould razer not end up on zee floor right now."

"You are pretty weak."

"Ja. I am fery veak."

"Come on, let's go up to your room or my room and I'll check you out and then maybe we really could go out and go shopping like I told Beau." She tugs on his sleeve, and he can't help the smile that graces his face. She gets up, dragging his skinny form with her. He allows her to drag him and lead him up to the room he's been sharing with Nott the past week and a half now. He digs his key out and unlocks the door. The pair make their way inside and Jester leads him to the bed.

"Sit," she commands. He does as he's told and watches as she locks the door and comes back to the bed.

"Okay, now take off your jacket and tell me where you're hurting."

"I told you zat I am fine," he protests again, but he does still begin slipping out of his long brown coat. He carefully and deliberately folds it and places it ever so delicately on a nearby chair. Jester finds it amusing that despite his coat being so dirty and hole ridden that he still takes such good care of it.

"Why do you fold it like that when it's like all full of holes and really stinky and dirty and stuff?" she asks. He turns to look at her. He shrugs.

"Old habit," he says softly. His eyes go distant like they do whenever he becomes lost in his thoughts and memories, and Jester wonders what exactly he's thinking of. While he is lost in his thoughts and memories, she places her hand on his leg and reaches out with her magic. She whispers a small prayer to the Traveller and her hand begins to glow with healing magic. Before her magic can really take hold, he jerks away from her as if he's been shot.

She moves faster than him, this time, as she swings her leg over his and straddles him. She pushes him to the bed and pins his flailing arms with her hands. Her tail twitches back and forth in annoyance.

"Now, hold still and let me heal you!"

"Nein….Nein…Nein….Let me go!" he cries out. He struggles and wriggles underneath her. He begins to slip into very frantic Zemnian, and she can see the very same fear in his eyes that she did when she threatened him with having Beau hold him down. She finds herself wondering, not for the first time, what could have possibly happened to him to make him so traumatized by so many different things.

"Cayleb, if you stay still and let me heal you, I'll let you go, okay?" she says. He doesn't seem to be listening to her, though. Instead of pushing him down, she pulls him towards her and wraps her arms around him. He still struggles, but as she slowly rubs circles into his back his flailing and insistent Zemnian cries die down.

"Shhhhh…..It's okay….It's okay, Cayleb…I'm here for you.." she whispers soothingly. As she's rubbing him, she sends her healing magic through his body until she can sense that his wounds are healed. He lets out a sigh of relief, and the tension slowly leaves his body.

"I'm so sorry…I didn't mean to like totally make you scared and stuff," she whispers. He lays his head on her shoulder, and she runs her fingers through his long hair.

"Are you okay?" she asks. Tears begin to well up as she tries not to blame herself for causing her Zemnian friend so much distress. He swallows down his fear and previous misery.

"I'm sorry for vorryink you. I vill be okay, I sink," he answers. He pulls away from her and she lets him. She sits down next to him and places a hand on his. He looks down at her touch, but he doesn't try and pull away.

"What happened to you to make you go all weird and stuff when people try and hold you down?" she asks. He sighs.

"I'd razer not talk about it." He scratches at his left arm just above where her hand rests on his.

"Okay, but you know that you're safe now right? That we're not gonna hurt you?" she asks. He nods.

"Ja. Yes, I know zat. I am sorry you had to see zat, Jester."

"It's okay. I know that you have had a lot of bad things happen to you…..Oh wait, does this have anything to do with what Trent did to you with those crystals? Did he like hold you down and do bad things to you?" she asks. He frowns and turns away, and Jester doesn't need him to answer to know that she's right.

"I'm so sorry, Cayleb. That Trent guy is a real jerk, and he deserves to be punished for what he did to you," she says. She rubs circles into his hand.

"Come on now! Let's go out and do some shopping or something! Ooooo, I know! We'll go back to that bookstore we found yesterday, and see if they still have that one book you wanted," she suggests as she bounces to her feet.

"I told you yesterday, zat I don't have zee coin…" he argues. She shakes her head.

"It's on me." This time, he shakes his head fiercely.

"You don't hafe to do zat, Jester."

"But it'll make you feel better. Plus I made you hurt and stuff, and since I'm the cleric it's my job to make you better and books make you feel better," she insists. He smiles at her.

"Alright, if you insist."

"I do." He follows her as she skips down the stairs and all the way to the small shop. They find the book in question very easily and pay the exorbitant amount for it before heading back the way they came. Before they make it all the way back to the tavern, Caleb stops her and pulls her aside.

"What's up?" she asks. He grasps both of her hands in his and squeezes them tight.

"Sank you fery much."

"For what?" she asks. She can barely hide the giddiness in her voice. It isn't every day that the wizard willingly reaches out and touches someone who isn't Nott.

"For beink zere for me, for eferysink zat you do, for healink me, for…puttink up vith my stubbornness," he punctuates with a chuckle. She smiles at his self jab.

"Yeah, you are pretty stubborn, Cayleb. I wonder how we can all stand it. I know that it can be pretty frustrating when you're like trying to heal someone who doesn't want to be healed or who doesn't like tell anyone that he's hurting in the first place," she teases. She punches him lightly in the shoulder.

"Oww." He rubs at the spot and wouldn't be surprised if there is a bruise there in the morning.

"That was for being so stubborn," she tells him.

"Alright fine, fine. I get it. I'm a stubborn Zemnian."

"Yeah you are, but you're OUR stubborn Zemnian," she says warmly. A smile blooms on his face that is so wide it reaches his eyes.

"Ja, I suppose I am."

"And you know what that means?"

"No, vat does it mean?"

"It means that we will always be here to help you, and protect you, and heal you, no matter if you've been injured physically or if you're hurting inside or even if you're like having bad thoughts and stuff. 'Cause we all care about you, Cayleb." She lowers her head.

"I care about you," she whispers. He smiles warmly at her.

"Danke. I care about all of you as vell."

"Well good."

"Hey! I saw a bakery just down zee street from zee tafern. If vee hurry, vee could make it zere before zey close," he says in an effort to cheer her up. She lifts her head and gives him a delighted smile.

"Race you there!"

"You really vant to do zat?" he asks with a mischievous smirk. His hand starts tracing a symbol in the air, and mutters some arcane words. The sensation of electricity rushes through him as he takes off running down the street at an unnatural pace. Jester glares at his rapidly retreating form.

"CHEATER!" she calls out, but her voice doesn't betray any anger. She chases after him grumbling about a cheating, stubborn Zemnian the whole way. She curses her own lack of foresight to prepare her dimension door spell for the day. She finally makes it to the bakery to find him out of breath, but otherwise waiting patiently.

"I sought…you vould…nefer…make it…" he huffs out between pants. He holds his side and Jester can't help laughing. He laughs with her, wincing as he does.

"Do you need me to heal you again, Cheater?" she teases. He shakes his head.

"Nein. I vill be fine."

"That's not you being stubborn again, is it?" she asks as she examines him with a discerning eye. He glares at her mockingly and she snickers.

"Let's go get you somesink to eat," he says in an effort to change the subject. She knows he's only trying to take the heat off of himself, but this time she lets him be stubborn. She takes hold of his elbow and ignores his flinch as they walk side by side into the bakery.

'He always knows just how to make me feel better,' she thinks as she glances up at him. A shy smile graces her lips and she flushes slightly as he looks down and gives her an equally shy smile. Sure he may be a broken and stubborn man, but she would do anything for him. Anything to take away the years of pain and hurt from him. Pain and hurt that she knows she might never be able to fully understand or heal. For now, though, she just revels in his presence, in his shy smile and the flush tinging his cheeks, and lets herself enjoy this. As amazing a cleric as she is, she's sure that in time even the pain of his past she can heal.


End file.
